Giants-Saints Preview: All Three Visitors to MetLife Scored Fewer Points Per Drive Than Usual
The Rams and Commanders scored more per drive against the Giants than in their other games. Field position has been nearly identical home and away, and New Orleans is 1-1 on the road and 0-3 at home.
The Giants are 3-0 at MetLife Stadium, and the clearest difference between their home and road games is on defense. Dallas, Tennessee and Arizona each scored fewer points per drive against the Giants than they have in their other games. The Los Angeles Rams and Washington each scored more, by our count from nflverse play-by-play.
The Giants (3-1-1) host the New Orleans Saints (1-4) at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on Fox. The Giants' broadcast listing says the game can be streamed on NFL+, and the radio call is on WFAN. DraftKings listed the Saints as 1.5-point favorites with an over-under of 45.5 as of Friday morning, on SI's odds page.
Home and road, by the drive
At home, the Giants' defense has allowed 1.76 points per drive. Its three opponents have averaged 2.04 in their other games. On the road it has allowed 2.29 to two opponents that have averaged 1.89 elsewhere. The home opponents have been slightly better offenses, and they scored fewer points per drive.
The defense forced three-and-outs on 11 of 29 drives at MetLife (38%) and five of 24 on the road (21%). The league rate is 20%.
Field position has been about even. The Giants' offense has started its drives at its own 31.4-yard line on average at home and its 32.5 on the road. Opponents have started at their own 27.2 at MetLife and their 26.8 on the road.
Turnovers favor the home games, by a little. The Giants have six takeaways and four giveaways at MetLife and two takeaways and three giveaways on the road. One of the home takeaways was a fumbled kickoff return by Tennessee.
The offense has scored 2.33 points per drive at home and 1.43 on the road, and most of that gap traces to the quarterback and the kicker. Jaxson Dart started the opener, when the Giants scored 28 points on seven drives against Dallas. He left the Week 2 loss to the Rams after seven snaps. On drives Jameis Winston has played, the Giants have scored 1.83 points per drive at home and 1.50 on the road.
Dominic Zvada missed field goals of 50, 57 and 46 yards at Washington, his only misses this season, as our kicking breakdown detailed. Had Zvada made those kicks, they would have put the road rate on Winston's drives at 1.91.
The defenses the Giants faced were about equal. The home opponents have allowed 2.68 points per drive in their other games and the road opponents 2.61.
Home field has not shown up league-wide this season. Leaving out four neutral-site games, home offenses have scored 2.13 points per drive and road offenses 2.09. The Giants' home-road gap on offense, 0.90 points per drive, is the seventh-largest of the 32 teams, and gaps of that size are common with two or three games at each site. Jacksonville's is 1.69 in favor of home; Atlanta's 1.79 is the largest in the other direction.
New Orleans has the reverse split. The Saints won at Baltimore, lost in overtime at Detroit and lost all three home games. Their defense has allowed 3.12 points per drive in New Orleans and 2.18 on the road.
| Week | Opponent | Result | NYG pts/drive | Opp. D allows elsewhere | Opp. pts/drive vs. NYG | Opp. O scores elsewhere | NYG avg. start | Opp. avg. start | Takeaways-giveaways |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas | W 28-20 | 4.00 | 2.51 | 2.86 | 3.11 | Own 25.3 | Own 21.9 | 1-1 |
| 2 | at L.A. Rams | L 28-6 | 0.60 | 2.55 | 2.55 | 2.02 | Own 37.0 | Own 20.7 | 2-1 |
| 3 | Tennessee | W 12-7 | 1.09 | 2.37 | 0.78 | 1.34 | Own 27.9 | Own 25.8 | 2-0 |
| 4 | Arizona | W 36-24 | 2.50 | 3.07 | 1.85 | 1.95 | Own 38.2 | Own 31.0 | 3-3 |
| 5 | at Washington | T 27-27 (OT) | 2.08 | 2.65 | 2.08 | 1.78 | Own 29.0 | Own 31.9 | 0-2 |
| Home (3) | 3-0 | 2.33 | 2.68 | 1.76 | 2.04 | Own 31.4 | Own 27.2 | 6-4 | |
| Road (2) | 0-1-1 | 1.43 | 2.61 | 2.29 | 1.89 | Own 32.5 | Own 26.8 | 2-3 |
The quarterbacks
The Giants' depth chart lists Winston, J.J. McCarthy and Jake Haener at quarterback. Dart is on injured reserve with a knee injury. Winston has completed 76 of 132 passes for 805 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions and has been sacked 11 times. The Giants are 2-0-1 in his starts. McCarthy, acquired from Minnesota on Sept. 28, played five snaps at Washington and ran twice for 2 yards. Haener has not played.
Tyler Shough has started all five games for New Orleans. He has completed 137 of 205 passes for 1,299 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions and has been sacked 13 times. Spencer Rattler and Zach Wilson are listed behind him on the Saints' depth chart. Rattler started the last meeting, a 26-14 Saints win in New Orleans on Oct. 5, 2025.
What this week's numbers point to
The Giants sent five or more pass rushers on 24 of Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels' 37 dropbacks in Week 5, and all five of their sacks came on those plays, as our pass-rush breakdown showed. Shough has been sacked on 9.3% of his dropbacks against five or more rushers and 4.1% against four or fewer. Abdul Carter, who leads the team with seven pressures, is questionable with a calf injury.
Opponents have succeeded on 50.4% of their designed runs against New Orleans, the highest rate in the league, and the Saints have allowed 4.9 yards per carry and 10 rushing touchdowns. The Giants rank 23rd in designed-run success rate.
Tight ends have caught 36 of 46 targets against the Saints for 356 yards. Isaiah Likely leads the Giants with 48 targets. The Saints have 11 giveaways, six of them lost fumbles. Our scouting report has the full matchup.
Injuries and roster
The Giants ruled out cornerback Colton Hood (concussion), safety Tyler Nubin (neck) and tight end Theo Johnson (neck). Carter, right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (calf) and left tackle Andrew Thomas (groin) are questionable. Safety Jason Pinnock, listed behind Nubin, has no designation. Our injury report has the practice detail.
New Orleans ruled out linebackers Kaden Elliss and Anfernee Jennings. Running back Alvin Kamara, wide receiver Chris Olave, defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd, cornerback Lorenzo Styles Jr. and long snapper Zach Wood are questionable. Wood is on injured reserve with the designation to return, and the Saints had not announced his activation as of Saturday morning. The Giants' transaction log showed no moves since Oct. 14 as of the same time.
Coach John Harbaugh spoke to reporters Friday. SNY's video of the session is below.
The Giants play at Houston on Oct. 25, then have their bye.
How we counted: A drive is an nflverse offensive possession with at least one scrimmage play. Points per drive counts only points the offense scored: touchdowns with their conversion tries, and field goals. A three-and-out is a drive of three or fewer runs and passes that ended in a punt. Average start is the yard line of the drive's first play. "Other games" are each opponent's games against teams other than the Giants, Weeks 1-5, combined in proportion to its drives against the Giants. Takeaways and giveaways are interceptions and lost fumbles, including on special teams. Neutral-site games are excluded from the league home/road comparison. A designed run is any run other than a scramble, kneel-down or two-point try, and it is a success when it adds expected points.